Demolition of the south gas station/convenience store at Fillmore and Chestnut streets - bought by the state and closed for the past several weeks - could start “any day now,” according to Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) engineer Mark Andrew.
In any case, CDOT has been assured by the demolition contractor that the site will be clear by the end of this month, he said.
The station/store on the north side of the street is also closed and slated for demolition, but the south corner has a higher priority, he said. That's because a stormwater detention pond needs to be built there as part of the current Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) project that is realigning Chestnut
west of the interchange and widening Fillmore part way up the hill.
Leif Neufeld, site superintendent for RTA project contractor Blue Ridge Construction, estimated that the south demo, including removal of the underground
tanks, will take a week. “As soon as it's down, we'll start putting pipe in and shaping the pond,” he said.
The El Paso County assessor's website shows a building date of 1976 for that property.
The station on the north corner is to be removed by the end of June, Andrew said. The assessor's website shows its building date as 1987.
CDOT's purchase of the north property will contribute to future plans to replace the Fillmore/I-25 interchange, Andrew said.
A new station/store is planned by the Kum & Go chain at the northeast corner of the future Chestnut/ Fillmore intersection, where Parker comes in now.
In other Fillmore/ Chestnut project news... Westbound Fillmore traffic has been shifted to the south, including use of the newly constructed eastbound third lane between Straus Lane and Parker Street.
The shift will allow widening work to take place in the area of the current right lane westbound. “This will be a permanent alignment of the roadway through June when work on that side of the road is complete,” reads a project press release. “Work will start at 8 p.m. and finish up around 6 a.m. Access to
businesses and residents will remain open at all times.”